Diagnosis of tularemia using biochemical, immunochemical and molecular methods: a review

Abstract

Tularemia, an infection caused by the intracellular gram-negative bacterium Francisella tularensis, is accompanied by high mortality and occurs throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The causative agent is also considered one of the most important biological warfare agents. As well as its taxonomy and epidemiology, the basic immunochemical, biochemical, and molecular approaches for disease diagnosis are outlined in this review. Aspects of immune responses during tularemia and damage to specific organs are discussed with regards to the predictive value of standard biomarkers. Bacterial burden is also considered as a limitation for polymerase-chainreaction-based diagnosis. Keywords: Francisella tularensis; tularaemia; zoonosis; pathogenesis; assayList of abbreviations ALT = alanine aminotransferase, AST = aspartate aminotransferase, CFU = colony forming unit, GLU = glucose, IFN = interferon, iNOS = inducible nitric oxide synthase, LD = lactate dehydrogenase, LVS = live vaccine strain, PCR = polymerase chain reaction, TNF = tumour necrosis factor

Serological Investigation of Wild Boars (Sus scrofa) and Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) As Indicator Animals for Circulation ofFrancisella tularensisin Germany

“…The results of the present study suggest a similar situation in other German regions. However, tularemia is a rare disease with often unspecific symptoms, which may lead to underreporting in the human population (Pohanka et al 2011). The western blot assay used as confirmatory assay was slightly less sensitive than the in-house ELISA, and therefore some weak positive samples could not be confirmed.…”

Evaluation of tularemia cases focusing on the oculoglandular form

“…Tularemia is distributed worldwide, but it is primarily found throughout the northern hemisphere and most frequently in Scandinavia, North America, Japan, and Russia. However, tularemia has recently been reported from the former Yugoslavia, Spain, Kosovo, Switzerland, and Turkey [1,2,3]. In Turkey, the first outbreak of tularemia occurred in the European part of the country, and the biggest epidemic occured around Bursa in 1988; other cases were reported from the Western Black Sea Region, Ankara, and more recently from Kocaeli, Konya, Sakarya, and central Anatolia [4,5].…”